Global: BWI sends a 28 April “No more deaths!” message to Lafarge-Holcim

It’s time to send management a message on 28 April, International Workers Memorial Day: Health and safety is every worker’s right, and this is Trade Union Business!

More than 150 people were killed working in LafargeHolcim (LH) in 2015-2016. In 2017, there were 65 deaths. During this period LH had 135,000 employees, by 2018 the number of direct employees had been dramatically reduced to fewer than 80,000.

We note with growing frustration, that in 2018, preventable fatal injuries in LH have continued unabated. LH management continued to behave negligently, because they did not comply with safety laws or international standards in several cases that led to the deaths of workers. Victims were almost all contracted or third-party workers. Workers were killed on the job in Cameroon, Guinea, Morocco, Iraq, Nigeria, Uganda; Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico; India and the Philippines; France, Russia and the United Kingdom. Three were killed in Colombia and in the Philippines. Five were killed in Iraq and in Uganda, and nine were killed in India.

This horrific death toll is just a tip of the iceberg, since LH are exposing thousands of workers to substances that in the long run will cause ill health and even premature death.

Going to work at the beginning of the shift and returning home alive and healthy is the most fundamental right of workers. We have to tell LafargeHolcim: Enough is Enough! Respect workers’ rights on health and safety! Trade Unions mean safe work!

Join the Campaign on April 28 by conducting global actions. These include worksite meetings, workplace health and safety inspections and training meetings, as well as campaign press conferences, producing banners and leaflets, work stoppages, memorial services, or demonstrations.

This year, the 28th falls on a Sunday, so workplace activities can be any working day around that date. What’s most important is not HOW you participate, it’s that you DO participate. The more workers and unions that participate, the stronger the message we will send to LafargeHolcim management that workers want a say on health and safety!

“We call it making a living, yet working people continue to be exposed to lethal substances. Today we pay our respects to those who paid the ultimate price at work. In their memory we continue to fight for the living,”

28 de Abril Jornada Internacional de Conmemoración (JIC) de los Trabajadores Fallecidos y Heridos 28 Avril Journée Internationale de Commémoration (JIC) des travailleurs décédés et blessés 28 April International Workers' Memorial Day 28 April International commemoration day for dead and injured workers 28 April International day of mourning